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| Eurasian Dotterel |
After pottering around Oslo and the southern Norway coast (see following post) we headed north to Lillehammer, where we looked without success for Pine Grosbeak, making do with more numerous fare such as Meadow Pipit and Common Redstart, along with some fine alpine scenery.
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| Common Redstart |
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| Mountains above Lillehammer |
We continued north to the Knudsen family's lovely cabin in the SynnfjellMountains in the district of Nord-Torpa, stopping to look at a pair of Slavonian Grebes with chicks.
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| Slavonian Grebe |
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| Nord-Torpa cabin |
Like so many cabins dotting the length of Scandinavia's Langfjellat mountains, the roof is adorned with a flourishing garden of wildflowers (abundant at this time of year), grasses and small shrubs. The weather was chilly but pleasant and sunny.
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| Great Tit |
A pair of Great Tits were feeding a clutch of young in a nest-boxon the cabin wall.
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| Pied Flycatcher |
Other birds about the cabin included Pied Flycatcher, Willow Warbler, Eurasian Siskin and Willow Tit. Glenn was fortunate to see a Long-eared Owl.
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| Eurasian Siskin |
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| Spruce forest, Nord-Torpa |
The forests in this part of the world are mostly spruce with pockets of treeless moor.
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| Siberian Jay |
Walkingthe road through the forest behind the cabin I found Siberian Jay on four occasions, with a maximum of 3 birds at one spot.
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| Capercaillie |
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| Capercaillie |
I stumbled upon a female Capercaillie being highly protective of a couple of chicks by the road. I also saw a single female Black Grouse briefly. A juvenile White-tailed Eagle overhead was unexpected.
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| White-tailed Eagle |
I had seen Brambling just once before so it was nice to track down a singing male.
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| Brambling |
We drove further north to the spectacular Valdresflya Plateau where plenty of snow was about, notwithstanding the time of year. Onthe way we were surprised to find a Hawfinch by the road.
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| Hawfinch |
This beautiful area is a mosaic of highland moors, snowfields, lakes, forest patches and mountains.
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| Valdresflya |
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| Valdresflya |
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| Valdresflya |
At Valdresflya it took a couple of hours to track down a prime target – Eurasian Dotterel, which nests on the rockymountain hillsides. An adultshowednicely as it watched over two small chicks.
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| Eurasian Dotterel |
Other birds in the area included the distinctive regional race of Bluethroat, Shore Lark and Western Yellow Wagtail. A Wood Sandpiper in breeding plumage was nice.
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| Wood Sandpiper |
Also anArctic Tern along one of the lake shores.
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Ketil sets up the hides at snipe lek |
We moved on to the Hersjomyrin Nature Reserve at Storhosaestren where Ketil knew of a Great Snipe lek. Here we set up two tent hides and waited until “sunset” at 11pm. Night at this time of year consists of 3 or 4 hours of dim twilight, andthat is when some birds such as snipe are most active.
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| Great Snipe displaying at lek - pic by Ketil Knudsen |
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| Great Snipe |
We weren't to be disappointed. We had 15-20 Great Snipe in full swing at the lek with a cacophony of bill-snapping, whinnying and whirring noises. They shut up when a Short-eared Owl soared overhead. A Merlin also flew over while Red Grouse was heard. Mammals in the area included Mountain Hare and Field Vole.
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| Common Snipe - Pic by Ketil Knudsen |
On the way back in the semi-darkness we encountered Eurasian Woodcock and Common Snipe (with a noticeably longer bill than Great Snipe) on the road.
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| Moose |
We had a couple of Moose cross the road.
We're extremely grateful to Ketil and Bente Knudsen for their warm generosity and excellent company during our 10-day visit to Norway. Then it was on to The Netherlands, the last of 12 countries we visited during our6.5-week sojourn to Europe (the others were, in order: Italy, Vatican City, Monaco, France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway).
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| Haarlem & Great Church of St Bavos |
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| St Bavos concert |
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| Haarlem's Adrian windmill |
We stayed near Amsterdam in the historic city of Haarlem with the tower of the Great Church of St Bavos shadowing ourcomfortable apartment; the constant ringing of its 5-tonne bell offered mixed blessings. The huge pipe organ in the church was played by Mozart when he was 10.
We checked out the sites of Haarlem and Amsterdam including, in Haarlem - Teyler's Museum, the city's bustling Saturday market in the town square and the Adrian windmill. We enjoyed the splendid mosaic of canals in both cities.
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| Amsterdam - marijuana shop |
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| Amsterdam |
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| Amsterdam |
In Amsterdam we sawWesterkerk, Hermitage and the Auschwitz Memorial. We contemplated the plates along canal footpaths commemorating the Jewish people taken from their homes and murdered by the Nazis. The whiffof marijuana in crowded Amsterdam back streets was in the air.
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| Amsterdam - Jewish people taken from their homes and killed by the Nazies WWII |
Near Haarlem we did not expect to find a large area of natural wilderness along the coast in Zuid-Kennemerland National Park. Fallow Deer were common here.
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| Zuid-Kennemerland National Park |
